The Bodhi, Awaken the Inner Surfer 7-Day Surf Camps are week long, set-date, surf vacations that invite you to learn the art of surfing while learning more about the ebbs and flows of Mother Ocean.
This 7-Day Surf Camp will will provide you with a unique surf travel experience, one that leaves you feeling enriched and rejuvenated after surfing in a one-of-a-kind pristine marine national park where the waves slowly roll in and provide gentle rides. In the spirit of experiential learning, you will be active in an outdoor classroom and work toward your own personal surf goals. You will also have time to unwind and reconnect with yourself, with nature, and with other people in a safe and nourishing way. In addition to learning how to stand up on a surfboard, you will learn how to stand up for Mother Ocean.
This experience also exemplifies an off-the-beaten-path kind of tourism that focuses on community engagement, cultural exchange, marine education, and immersion into the local way of life. We provide just enough structure to keep you active and just enough flexibility to allow personal growth, friendship-building, and some much needed rest and relaxation!
Your flight to Costa Rica is scheduled to arrive on Saturday. To ensure a smooth transition, we've arranged airport transportation with TAXI UNIDOS to your pre-booked hotel.
We primarily utilize the Adventure Inn for our guests' arrival night, and we've secured your reservation there whenever possible. Should the Adventure Inn reach capacity, we will arrange accommodations at a comparable nearby hotel.
Your airport transfer to the Adventure Inn Hotel is included and pre-arranged for you with TAXIS UNIDOS, the official orange airport taxi service.
After picking up your luggage at baggage claim, you'll then head through customs. Once through customs, you'll see the TAXIS UNIDOS official orange airport taxi service representative. Simply ask a TAXIS UNIDOS representative (they are easily identifiable by their orange uniforms and vehicles) near the international exit for your complimentary transfer to the Adventure Inn Hotel. Do not accept any other transportation offers.
We recommend utilizing your arrival day to rest, enjoy a meal, and relax before your scheduled departure to Uvita on Sunday.
The Adventure Inn Hotel - Not a cookie-cutter chain hotel
Established in 1995, family-owned and operated Adventure Inn prides itself on personalized service that you won't get at a chain hotel, while not sacrificing on amenities - all included in your rate. There's a reason they are constantly at the top of review sites.
Your adventure begins Sunday morning! At 9:00 am, our friendly driver, Wali, will collect you and the rest of the group for a scenic 4.5-hour journey to Bahia Ballena. We'll pause along the way for a refresh and bathroom break, ensuring a comfortable trip.
9:00 am - Departure from Adventure Inn Hotel
1:30 pm – Arrival and welcome
2:00 pm – Bodhi Tour
2:30 pm – Lunch (not included)
3:30 pm – Community walking tour
6:00 pm – Welcome dinner
Anticipate arriving at Bodhi Surf + Yoga around 1:30 pm. Our guest experience representative will be there to welcome you with chilled, fresh coconuts – the perfect way to rehydrate after your travels.
Following a brief introduction, we will guide you to your rooms and lead you on the "Bodhi Tour." This walk-about will familiarize you with our beautiful property, highlighting points of interest, local wildlife, and the unique history of Bodhi Surf + Yoga.
After the tour, you'll have approximately an hour to enjoy lunch at a nearby eatery. Then, at 3:30 pm, we embark on one of the most enriching experiences of your stay: the community tour. This is a fantastic opportunity to get acquainted with our vibrant community culture and spot some of the flora and fauna you'll encounter during your week with us.
Sunday concludes with the "Bodhi Welcome Dinner." Join us for a relaxed meal where we can connect, share stories, and address any questions you may have about the schedule, classes, meals, and activities. It's the perfect way to kick off your Bodhi Surf + Yoga experience!
Your day will start with your first surf lesson of the week. Bright and early at 7 am, you’ll make your way down to the beach to start the day off the best way possible – in the ocean!
The Marino Ballena National Park is absolutely breathtaking at this time. You arrive there to the sounds of howler monkeys and scarlet macaws doing their daily ‘wake up call’.
The surf instructors use this first session to learn about everyone’s surf experience, goals for the week, fears, and expectations. This lesson is also usually a bit heavier on the theory side of things, whereby before getting into the water, guests learn about:
The national park and its importance to our community
The ocean
Surfboard anatomy
How to conduct a surf report
We also start the lesson off with some bodysurfing!
After arriving back at our lodge, you can make your way over to Area Alegria, where a delicious and nutritious breakfast will be waiting for you. Oh, and not to forget – coffee!
After recharging at breakfast, you’ll get ready to head back down to the national park for surf lesson number two, where you’ll practice a bit more what you learned during the first lesson.
Following the surf lesson, the group returns back here to the lodge and gets ready for a trip to the Uvita Waterfall – a great place to chill out nestled in the jungle.
We give the group about two hours there, which is plenty of time to go for a swim in the natural (and cold!) pool that the waterfall pours into, as well as to grab some lunch from the restaurant there.
Day one ends here, with guests having the opportunity to head out into our local community for dinner. Don’t worry – we send you all of our favorite places!
7:00 am – Surf lesson
9:00 am – Breakfast
10:30 am – Enhanced Surf lesson
1:30 pm – Uvita Waterfall
Tuesday typically looks quite similar to Monday – whereby the day starts with a 7am surf lesson, followed by breakfast, and then your second surf lesson of the day.
You might feel a little achy this morning – that’s completely normal. Surfing engages muscles throughout our entire bodies that we don’t normally use, or even know we have!
In Tuesday’s surf lessons, we spend a bit more time in the water than on Monday. It’s crucially important to us that we set our students up with a strong foundation before rushing into the water.
Our whole ideology behind teaching you to surf is that you can leave us and continue your surfing journey anywhere you go, rather than having to start again every time.
What’s different about Tuesday is that we enjoy our first group lunch here together! Our chef Luci spoils us with a freshly made, typical Costa Rican dish that’s accommodating for all of the week’s dietary restrictions.
Lunch is also accompanied by a refreshing homemade fruit juice!
7:00 am – Surf lesson
9:00 am – Breakfast
10:30 am – Enhanced Surf lesson
1:00 pm – Lunch
Wednesday’s schedule is the least crowded of all the days, making it a great day to do a tour, get a massage, or just chill out and catch up on some relaxation.
In terms of activities, some our favorites that we always recommend to our guests are the coconut tour, a visit to Costa Rica’s one and only coral reef restoration lab, and walking our park’s famous ‘Whale’s Tail”.
If a relaxing massage is more your cup of tea, we’ve got you covered. We work with a local massage company that comes here to conduct on-site massages up on our yoga platform.
They’re super easy to book – you just let a member of our team know when and for how long you’d like to have your massage and we’ll take care of it!
Speaking of relaxation, we have many spaces here on our property designed to allow you to kick back, relax, and recharge – all while feeling connected to nature.
Our newest addition to our lodge includes our meditation garden, which is now OPEN. Come and be amongst the first to enjoy this new natural and relaxing space!
You’re also ‘on your own’ again for lunch on Wednesday. Guests usually head to our local farmers market, where you can enjoy various exotic fruits, baked goods, typical lunches, and more!
7:00 am – Surf Lesson
9:00 am – Breakfast
10:30 am – Enhanced Surf lesson
It’s at this point in the week that you are tuning in, polishing up your skills and knowledge on and off the surfboard, understanding the ebbs and flows of surfing and really starting to feel the local vibes.
Surf lessons on Thursday may be at a different time than the three previous days, due to the tide changes during the week.
Sometimes the surf lesson on Thursday stays at 7:00 am or 10:30 am, but more often than not we will have Thursday’s surf class in the late the afternoon for a sunset sessions at 3:30 pm.
Surf and breakfast are weaved into the schedule and Thursday is also your last opportunity to squeeze in a last minute tour or massage.
Don't forget, you are also treated to one of our on-site lunches that we provide. ¡Que rico!
7:00 am – Surf Lessons
9:00 am – Breakfast
1:00 pm – Lunch
3:30 pm – Enhanced Surf lesson
A typical Friday at Bodhi Surf + Yoga usually starts with surfing! Again, we can’t promise that every Friday will start like this because of the tides.
But more often than not, the tides work in our favor when we finish the week with an early-bird surf lesson.
This class starts bright and early at 7:00 am. That may sound really early, but after a week of being on Costa Rica time you’re already accustomed to waking up early with the sounds of the exotic birds and howler monkeys.
This really is a beautiful time to be down there at the national park – there’s usually no one else there!
You’ll come back from your surf lesson to find breakfast and coffee waiting for you. But there’s no rush, you have plenty of time to shower off and freshen up before sitting down for breakfast.
At this last breakfast of the week, we will make some final housekeeping announcements regarding:
Departure
Our/Your Traveler’s Philanthropy donation to Costa Rica Coral Restoration
Leaving online testimonials – check out our hundreds of 5 star reviews here!
Following breakfast, you will enjoy your last surf classes of the week!
At 1pm we share our final (so sad!) on-site lunch for the week, followed by the last activity on the schedule – The Bodhi Grad.
This is a sort of play on words, meaning both grad-uation and also grad-itude (gratitude circle).
Here, we sit around the breakfast tables one last time and share something that we’re grateful for. We think that by practicing gratitude, we’re putting positive energy out there into the universe that has positive impacts on our mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Once we finish up with Bodhi Grad, it’s time to say our goodbyes (see you laters) to our new friends and wish them a happy and safe journey.
7:00 am – Surf lesson
9:30 am – Breakfast
10:30 am – Enhanced Surf Lesson
1:00 pm – Lunch
3:00 pm – Bodhi Grad
3:30 pm – Departure
Here, we’ll leave you a high level packing list for things that we recommend that you bring with you for your trip.
For a much more detailed explanation of what we recommend you bring, head over to our blog!
We recommend you bring:
Passport (valid for the entirety of your stay in Costa Rica)
Proof of Exit from Costa Rica (within 180 days)
A couple of swimsuits (check out our blog on picking the right swimsuit for surfing)
A rashguard for surfing
A light rain jacket
A pair of closed shoes/ sneakers
A pair of sandals/flip-flops
A hat and sunglasses (we love Sunski sunglasses)
Clothing essentials — shirts, shorts, socks, underwear
Light sweatshirt / long sleeve (mostly for air-conditioned buildings or transportation)
Sunscreen
Insect repellent
Reusable water bottle
$200 – $400 cash USD per week
$100 worth of local currency (Colones)
Debit and credit card
Tylenol / Advil (just in case)
Electrolytes (optional, but good for transitioning to warm/sunny climate)
Snacks!
And a positive attitude.
Here are some basic Spanish phrases that can be helpful when traveling to Costa Rica:
Hola - Hello
Gracias - Thank you
Por favor - Please
Sí - Yes
No - No
¿Cuánto cuesta? - How much does it cost?
¿Dónde está el baño? - Where is the bathroom?
Ayuda, por favor. - Help, please.
Lo siento - I'm sorry / Excuse me
Pura Vida! - This is a quintessential Costa Rican phrase, meaning "pure life." It's used as a greeting, farewell, to express thanks, to say everything's great, or as a general positive affirmation. You'll hear it constantly!
Learning these basic phrases can make your interactions with locals much smoother and more enjoyable.
We're here to help you plan the perfect experience! For any inquiries or assistance, feel free to reach out:
Phone or WhatsApp: +506 8712 8919
Email: [email protected]
Address: Bahia Ballena, Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
"We help people build a deeper connection to themselves and the planet, inspiring them to create a more sustainable world through the practices of surfing, yoga, and community."
At Bodhi Surf + Yoga, our "Small is Beautiful" philosophy has been our guiding star for over a decade.
We believe that travel, whether with loved ones or alone, has the power to transform. We prioritize depth over quantity, focusing on creating educational, inspiring, and empowering vacation experiences for you.
Our intimate lodge, hosting a maximum of 10 guests per week, ensures a more personal, comfortable, and familiar experience. Here, you can unwind, recharge, and discover new passions, all while making lasting memories.
We look forward to welcoming you into our home.
Bodhi Surf + Yoga isn't just a business; it’s a journey into love, both personal and planetary; between a family, a community, and the natural world.
Our story began with a simple dream: to share our passion for surfing, yoga, nature immersion and community engagement.
Over time, Bodhi has evolved into an award winning, B Corp-certified and 1% for the Planet member, always committed to creating positive social and environmental impact.
We believe that travel can be a force for good, inspiring guests to connect with themselves, each other, and the planet.
In 2005, Travis Bays arrived in Costa Rica as a Peace Corps volunteer, little knowing he'd find love and purpose in this tropical paradise. His love story with Pilar began in 2007 and led to a shared dream: to create a sustainable tourism business that would foster personal growth and environmental consciousness. Together they founded Bodhi Surf + Yoga in 2010. The name "Bodhi" symbolizes enlightenment, and the founders aimed to inspire guests through surfing, yoga, and mindful living.
A Growing Family and Business
In 2011, the birth of their first daughter, Maya, solidified Bodhi as a family business. The expansion of the lodge in 2015 and the birth of their second daughter, Clea, further deepened their commitment to the community and sustainable tourism. The retreat expanded, and a dedicated team worked tirelessly to provide an exceptional experience for guests.
To this day, Travis and Pilar, are deeply rooted in this community. They understand the importance of active listening and meaningful engagement. By participating in local initiatives and supporting community organizations, they strive to contribute to the well-being of their neighbors.
Today, Bodhi remains a family-run business dedicated to sustainable tourism. With a focus on personalized service and a maximum of 10 guests per week, Bodhi offers a unique opportunity to immerse oneself in surf, yoga, nature, and community.